July Regional Teleconferences

Regional teleconferences for all club Presidents will be held next week, see below for schedule.  The teleconference is an opportunity to hear from President, Rich Mann and your Region VP on important topics for the remainder of the season.  If you can not make the call for your region, you are welcome to attend one of the other two calls or you may have another club rep attend the call on your behalf.  Only one club rep per club please.  Contact your club President or Doren James for call-in details.

USAFL Regional Teleconference

MINUTES

July 2011

Clubs Represented:Minnesota, Cincinnati, Nashville, Houston, Austin, Columbus, Denver, San Diego, Orange County, Des Moines, Kansas City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Boston, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Rich Mann – President, Chet Ridenour – VP Central, Andy Vanica – VP West, Mike Sheppard – VP East

Clubs Absent:  Arizona, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Golden Gate, Los Angeles, Riverside, Louisville, North Carolina, Portland, Seattle, St. Louis, Tulsa

Review of April Regional Teleconference Minutes

1. Questions

Discussion:  No questions on previous minutes were raised.

Player Registration

1. ALL players need to be PAID and complete online waiver and code of conduct to be covered by league general liability insurance.
2. Regional VP’s and Doren James will be following up with club Presidents to make sure players have completed registration.

Discussion:  Club Presidents to review player registration report sent by Doren James, on 7/14 and follow up with unregistered players.  Region VP’s will be following up with club Presidents for updates.  Club web is scheduled to be online by Aug. 31^st, clubs can contact Operations Manager, Doren James at until then for current reports.

Match Results

1. Match results to be submitted to Amy Bishop ASAP at the conclusion of all matches.

Discussion:  It is important for clubs to submit detailed match results as this information will be utilized by Nationals seeding committee.

Nationals

1. 2011 – Austin, TX – MANDATORY ALL teams must stay at one of the 3 official host hotels
2. 2012 – Mason, OH confirmed
3. 2013 – Dublin, OH or Austin, TX
4. 2014 – Dublin, OH or Austin, TX

Discussion:  2012 Nationals have been confirmed for Mason, OH.  2013 and 2014 Nationals to be held in Dublin, OH and Austin, TX.  Nationals Tournament Director, Rich Mann and the USAFL Board will continue to work with those cities to finalize plans.  Once confirmed announcements will be made.

49^th Parallel Cup

1. 2012 – Dublin, OH confirmed

Discussion:  The annual US vs. Canada event will be held in August, 2012 at Darree Fields Park in Dublin, OH.

Revolution/Freedom

1. International Cup communications must come through Doren James.
2. Well wishes and messages of good luck to players, etc. to be sent to:
   1. Freedom - Andrea Casillas
   2. Revolution - Matt Jagger
3. NO ONE is to go onto any chat rooms in Australia bad mouthing draw/AFL/teams, etc.

General/Regional Business

1. Club Questions

Question:  How can my club host a coaching/umpire clinic?

Answer:  To maximize numbers coaching/umpire clinics are typically scheduled in conjunction with a tournament.  If your club is hosting a tournament and would like to schedule an umpire clinic contact Umpire Director, Jeff Persson.  If interested in hosting a coaching clinic contact VP East, Mike Sheppard.

Question:  When will the Friday Nationals schedule be released?

Answer:  Will follow similar schedule to last year, final schedule will be released closer to Nationals.

Question:  Are Thursday night hotel rates the same as rest of weekend? 

Answer:  Yes, rates are extended for the week leading up to Nationals.

Question:  How will Canadian clubs be assigned at Nationals?

Answer:  USAFL clubs have priority when it comes to Nationals Division requests.  Once all USAFL clubs have been assigned a Division, Canadian clubs will be assigned accordingly.  Last year, 8 USAFL teams requested Division 1, therefore Calgary was assigned Division 2.  USAFL has requested Calgary to play at least one USAFL club to give a more accurate seeding assignment this year.  USAFL will continue to work with Calgary to secure a USAFL game.

Question:  Has Calgary committed to Nationals yet?

Answer:  USAFL has been in contact with Calgary and they do have plans to attend, but no official confirmation has been made as yet.

Question: Can a club’s second team play as a standalone team in Div. 3 instead of Div. 4?

Answer:  Yes, the goal is to have single club teams in Div. 3 and combined teams only in Div. 4.  Clubs interested in their second team playing in Div. 3 should have their second team play against other clubs to aide in the Nationals seeding process.

Question:  How are $ raised for Freedom/Revolution Supporter t-shirts being distributed back to clubs/players?

Answer:   When someone purchases a shirt, they can nominate the player or team they would like their purchase to benefit. This will go against the players overall fee and reduce it by however much they manage to sell.  All order and payment records are being recorded along with all paypal payment notifications. All money is going into the Freedom bank account via paypal and will be distributed accordingly to team or player accounts.  A purchaser can choose to distribute their contribution to the Freedom or the Revolution, a particular USAFL club's representatives or an individual player.  All proceeds from sales go to teams/players.

Question:  Who do we talk to about hosting a juniors clinic? (logistics/what to cover/any available resources etc.)

Answer:  Email Denis Ryan, and cc Doren James, for follow up – also look at posted resources online http://www.usafl.com/juniors.

Question:  If we are having trouble securing an insurance certificate who do we contact?

Answer:  Contact Doren James, for all insurance requests and if any issues, he will follow up with the insurance provider.

Question:  Why is it mandatory for all clubs to stay at one of the three official Nationals hotels?

Answer:  When negotiating hotel contracts, the group rate bargaining power is based upon total number of clubs and players attending Nationals.  Also, local grant funding is based upon these numbers.  If clubs stay at alternative hotels it negatively affects these contracts.

Question:  Some clubs need insurance certificates earlier in the year in order to secure fields for the season.  The current cycle for the annual USAFL insurance policy is set to expire at the end of March each year.  Is there a way to make insurance certificates available to clubs prior to the policy renewal in March?

Answer:  Once clubs have paid their annual USAFL dues they can apply for insurance certificates.  Clubs can check with their local municipalities to ascertain that if the club provides a current certificate and then a new certificate at the time of policy renewal that it will satisfy that particular municipality’s requirements.  For example, if a club applies for field space in January and submits a current certificate as proof of insurance they could then provide another certificate at the time of the policy renewal for the remainder of the year.  Any questions on insurance certificates can be addressed to Doren James, operations@usafl.com.